Anyone run a daycare/babysit in their home?

Hi All,I am a first time mom to my beautiful 6 month old daughter Mhairi and live in Canada so have a full year off from work. I was working in a daycare centre before going on maternity leave but quit my job when I left. I don't want to return to work there. My background is in Social Work but hate the stress and emotional drain of being a social worker. I absolutely loooove being home with Mhairi and am considering taking in kids to babysit if I could find any!?

I guess I am just looking to see if any other moms out there take care of kids and if you have any advice/tips on how to get started or how you enjoy doing this !? My maternity leave will be over in March so if I don't take kids in then I will have to find a new job..I hate the idea of being away from my LO through the day and the thought of someone else looking after her :( However,we can't afford for me to stay at home and have no income whatsoever. I was thinking if I could take 3 kids max then I could make enough to comfortably stay home. Thoughts/advice/opinions!?

Hi All,I am a first time mom to my beautiful 6 month old daughter Mhairi and live in Canada so have a full year off from work. I was working in a daycare centre before going on maternity leave but quit my job when I left. I don't want to return to work there. My background is in Social Work but hate the stress and emotional drain of being a social worker. I absolutely loooove being home with Mhairi and am considering taking in kids to babysit if I could find any!?

I guess I am just looking to see if any other moms out there take care of kids and if you have any advice/tips on how to get started or how you enjoy doing this !? My maternity leave will be over in March so if I don't take kids in then I will have to find a new job..I hate the idea of being away from my LO through the day and the thought of someone else looking after her :( However,we can't afford for me to stay at home and have no income whatsoever. I was thinking if I could take 3 kids max then I could make enough to comfortably stay home. Thoughts/advice/opinions!?

I would suggest looking into your local laws for home daycare (they vary). There are pros and cons to home daycare, but after doing it for 7years I would suggest asking some pointed questions.

Are you willing to have kids in your home for 12+hours per day?Are you willing to give up paid holidays and vacations?Is your dh willing to do the same?

Realizing that income from homedaycare can change in an instant....can you deal with a fluctuating income?

Those issues came up right away for me. I had been a Preschool Director/teacher before doing home daycare. Some years were great. some years were aweful. Some years we had issues with finaces because within a day you can loose a huge chunk of income (most people do not view home daycare the same as a center and will not give a proper notice when switching or using their vacation days). Also note that it is usually a rider on your home insurance for the extra insurance while watching extra kids and sometimes they only allow a certain amount of extra kids as well as how old the children were (my rider didn't allow me to watch babies under 18mons)

With this said I loved being home with my kids. Good Luck

I would suggest looking into your local laws for home daycare (they vary). There are pros and cons to home daycare, but after doing it for 7years I would suggest asking some pointed questions.

Are you willing to have kids in your home for 12+hours per day?Are you willing to give up paid holidays and vacations?Is your dh willing to do the same?

Realizing that income from homedaycare can change in an instant....can you deal with a fluctuating income?

Those issues came up right away for me. I had been a Preschool Director/teacher before doing home daycare. Some years were great. some years were aweful. Some years we had issues with finaces because within a day you can loose a huge chunk of income (most people do not view home daycare the same as a center and will not give a proper notice when switching or using their vacation days). Also note that it is usually a rider on your home insurance for the extra insurance while watching extra kids and sometimes they only allow a certain amount of extra kids as well as how old the children were (my rider didn't allow me to watch babies under 18mons)

Wow, thank you for all the information! There are a lot of things there I would not have even thought of! Would it be possible to email you at some point with some more questions? It would be helpful to talk to someone who has so much experience in this. I'm in Canada so obviously there would be some major differences in laws and what not I'm sure...but still helpful to talk with someone who has done this for years. Thanks for the help!

Wow, thank you for all the information! There are a lot of things there I would not have even thought of! Would it be possible to email you at some point with some more questions? It would be helpful to talk to someone who has so much experience in this. I'm in Canada so obviously there would be some major differences in laws and what not I'm sure...but still helpful to talk with someone who has done this for years. Thanks for the help!

Ihave5kids2009 summed up everything beautifully! I live in Canada too and I know the childcare/dayhome regulations vary from province to province. There is a maximum number of children you can safely take into your home (depending on how many children you have yourself) and anything over this number would usually require you to become an approved dayhome. Good luck in your venture!

Ihave5kids2009 summed up everything beautifully! I live in Canada too and I know the childcare/dayhome regulations vary from province to province. There is a maximum number of children you can safely take into your home (depending on how many children you have yourself) and anything over this number would usually require you to become an approved dayhome. Good luck in your venture!

where in canada do you live? Im in Quebec, and I did daycare babysitting for a few months. personally, it wasnt for me. i had my 1 year old and a 10 month old so the ages were really too close and the 10 month old was scared of my baby and was very clingy. It was nice pocket money, but i could never go out during the week and I found it very draining. 2 kids that couldnt walk was very hard so i was very limited on what i could do. If you have a toddler and a baby or a baby with a few older kids, it's probably more interesting and fun because the older kids would want to help out with the baby etc... It depends on the kids you have I think.

where in canada do you live? Im in Quebec, and I did daycare babysitting for a few months. personally, it wasnt for me. i had my 1 year old and a 10 month old so the ages were really too close and the 10 month old was scared of my baby and was very clingy. It was nice pocket money, but i could never go out during the week and I found it very draining. 2 kids that couldnt walk was very hard so i was very limited on what i could do. If you have a toddler and a baby or a baby with a few older kids, it's probably more interesting and fun because the older kids would want to help out with the baby etc... It depends on the kids you have I think.

Here they have very specific rules of the ages a person is allowed to watch as well. I have twins and I can not imagine purposefully choosing to watch little ones so close in age.(unless they were all 2yrs and up) If you ever decide to watch children again a good rule is...if you have a baby of your own....have your next age of a child be 2yrs or older. I had school age kids that I watched for a long time and it worked out great! It ment I could have some freedom during the day without feeling trapped in my home. I also had permission from the parents to take their kiddos out. I would let them know where and when, but we went to the local library story hour, the park and sometimes to play at the mall play area. I did have extra precautions in place like emergency cards on the back of all the car seats, extra snacks in the carry along bag, homeade 1st aid bag, and a signed parent permission/insurance card in case of emergency. All so I could make sure my kids had a good mix of outdoors and indoors for their childhood.

Being isolated isn't healthy for adults or children.

Here they have very specific rules of the ages a person is allowed to watch as well. I have twins and I can not imagine purposefully choosing to watch little ones so close in age.(unless they were all 2yrs and up) If you ever decide to watch children again a good rule is...if you have a baby of your own....have your next age of a child be 2yrs or older. I had school age kids that I watched for a long time and it worked out great! It ment I could have some freedom during the day without feeling trapped in my home. I also had permission from the parents to take their kiddos out. I would let them know where and when, but we went to the local library story hour, the park and sometimes to play at the mall play area. I did have extra precautions in place like emergency cards on the back of all the car seats, extra snacks in the carry along bag, homeade 1st aid bag, and a signed parent permission/insurance card in case of emergency. All so I could make sure my kids had a good mix of outdoors and indoors for their childhood.

I would have loved to have been able to leave the property, but I live in the country and the closest civilization (parks and such) is at least a 30 minute walk. We went to walks but with nap times and such, I just couldnt go to the park...If I had a car I probably could have gone, but no car since december =( Now that LO is walking, i wouldnt mind having a baby under 9 months (only allowed 2 children under 18 months) but I'd much prefer older kids. Only problem is that there are A LOT of daycares in my town and because I'm a young new mom (I dont have all the wonderful bright things daycares have) people rather go else where. we'll see in the future! If I get older kids, I'd probably give it another go!

I would have loved to have been able to leave the property, but I live in the country and the closest civilization (parks and such) is at least a 30 minute walk. We went to walks but with nap times and such, I just couldnt go to the park...If I had a car I probably could have gone, but no car since december =( Now that LO is walking, i wouldnt mind having a baby under 9 months (only allowed 2 children under 18 months) but I'd much prefer older kids. Only problem is that there are A LOT of daycares in my town and because I'm a young new mom (I dont have all the wonderful bright things daycares have) people rather go else where. we'll see in the future! If I get older kids, I'd probably give it another go!

Thanks everyone for all the advice. I am in Nova Scotia, Canada by the way. We have quite a few daycares here as well but I live in a very small town. I think there is still a need for in home child care as some people don't like the centres...I know I will never send my daughter to a centre!! After having worked in one I am totally disgusted with how they operate....but maybe the one I worked in was just bad. But it gave me a very bad taste in my mouth. I eventually will have to return to work as we simply just can't afford to live on one salary but I don't feel ready to leave my daughter yet...she's only 6 months. I thought if maybe I could find 2-3 children to look after, it would be an opportunity to stay home longer with her as well as give her the opportunity to socialize with other children without needing to go to a daycare centre.

I have heard a lot of good things in this discussion however that I never would've thought of on my own so I definitely have to think about the whole thing some more. We don't live in town either, but about 10 minute drive from town...so if we wanted to go anywhere then it would be tough. Anyway, will keep thinking about it...I wouldn't plan to start until after Christmas anyway..I would want to wait until Mhairi was a bit older..closer to a year.

Thanks everyone for all the advice. I am in Nova Scotia, Canada by the way. We have quite a few daycares here as well but I live in a very small town. I think there is still a need for in home child care as some people don't like the centres...I know I will never send my daughter to a centre!! After having worked in one I am totally disgusted with how they operate....but maybe the one I worked in was just bad. But it gave me a very bad taste in my mouth. I eventually will have to return to work as we simply just can't afford to live on one salary but I don't feel ready to leave my daughter yet...she's only 6 months. I thought if maybe I could find 2-3 children to look after, it would be an opportunity to stay home longer with her as well as give her the opportunity to socialize with other children without needing to go to a daycare centre.

I have heard a lot of good things in this discussion however that I never would've thought of on my own so I definitely have to think about the whole thing some more. We don't live in town either, but about 10 minute drive from town...so if we wanted to go anywhere then it would be tough. Anyway, will keep thinking about it...I wouldn't plan to start until after Christmas anyway..I would want to wait until Mhairi was a bit older..closer to a year.

you can put up an ad on http://www.daycarebear.ca/A lot of parents look on this site for people doing babysitting/daycares in their area. You can choose what ages you are willing to look after. Since your baby is 6 months, I would suggest a child who can walk. When I had the 10 and 12 month old not walking, it was very hard to get outside! Since winter is coming, even a 1 year old might not be so bad. It's pretty cold here (Quebec) in the winters and in the country, well I cant even see out my bedroom window theres so much snow! Think about it, and look up activites and meal plans you could do for the other kids. Start off slow, so you know you are ready and able to do it, it's a lot of work! I'm sure you can do it though!! =D

you can put up an ad on http://www.daycarebear.ca/A lot of parents look on this site for people doing babysitting/daycares in their area. You can choose what ages you are willing to look after. Since your baby is 6 months, I would suggest a child who can walk. When I had the 10 and 12 month old not walking, it was very hard to get outside! Since winter is coming, even a 1 year old might not be so bad. It's pretty cold here (Quebec) in the winters and in the country, well I cant even see out my bedroom window theres so much snow! Think about it, and look up activites and meal plans you could do for the other kids. Start off slow, so you know you are ready and able to do it, it's a lot of work! I'm sure you can do it though!! =D

Thanks for all the advice! I hear you on the cold winters...though I think you get a lot more snow than us even! I was thinking of starting off with just one child even..just to see if I could handle it. Would not want to get in over my head...it's a big committment to agree to care for someones children so I wouldn't want to let anyone down! I will keep you posted...do you think you will try again?

Thanks for all the advice! I hear you on the cold winters...though I think you get a lot more snow than us even! I was thinking of starting off with just one child even..just to see if I could handle it. Would not want to get in over my head...it's a big committment to agree to care for someones children so I wouldn't want to let anyone down! I will keep you posted...do you think you will try again?

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